Prologue: Hunted and Hated (Shade)

When you were born, your mother an Oracle of your people, dedicated your spirit to the Goddess Diana and imbued you with the Spirit of the Hunter. As you grew by her side she told you of the days before the Blood Wars, when Umbrians were at peace and there was no Tyranny forcing each of the holds under its power. The days when the Old Gods such as Diana guided your people and maintained the balance between the faerie and woodland spirits. The days before the Corruption of Blood had come, long before the hated enemies the Ankivari had fallen to the followers of the human god of the East.

For fifty years you lived the life of a ranger, following the doctrines of balance and order of the Old Gods, in harmony with the forests around Dauphne, your ancestral homestead. You heard stories of the war being waged far away and the merciless expansion of the Tyranny. You heard of the sacrifices being made to the New Gods, the Primordial Princes of the Elements and the destruction of the shrines to the Old Gods. You wept to hear of the forests burned and devastated by the fiery abominations.

It was with a sense of inevitability that your people heard the news that the Tyrant's Host marched on Dauphne, one of the last holds to remain independent of his power. The populace prepared for the battle to come and you joined the forward skirmishers that sought to delay the advance of the black legions. You fought valiantly alongside your kin but the Tyrant's forces were too numerous and the tide swept aside the hold's defenses. You evaded death and for sometime capture but only long enough to know your family had perished in the assault. Bound by foul magics and binded with a runed collar of silver, you were press-ganged into the slaver ships that ploughed the Golden Gulf.

The next stage of your life was a torturous hell of sea-borne pillaging and the stench of burnt human offerings to the so-called New Gods. Far from the glades and forests of your ancestral home, your soul retreated deep within you. For years, you awoke with nothing but the wish that you would die on the next voyage.

It was at the nadir of your spirit, that something miraclous occured. You awoke one morning and your binding collar fell. For the first time in over sixty years, you had free will to act and knew hope. Your body exhausted beyond measure collapsed and the galley master presuming you had died threw you overboard.

Were it not for a second miracle you would have died beneath the depths but instead you awoke on an unknown beach. You clung on to life finding food and shelter, nursing yourself back to health on that hidden cove. Your strength restored, you gathered makeshift tools and clothing heading inland. The sea shore led steeply up to broken wastelands and beyond them desert that seemed to go on forever. You wandered along the coast until at last you saw a strange looking settlement. Remaining hidden. you observed the first people of the Caliphate you had seen in their natural environment. Expecting a hostile reception, you covered your appearance and adopted a psuedonym.

You travelled along the deltas with much time to think before you arrived at the City of Pearl, Darvish Kapur. Your hatred for the Tyranny and the Elemental Princes brought you closer to the people of the Caliphate and piqued your curiosity about this "Holy Divine" that they worship. You cannot help but wonder: Where was the Goddess Diana when your people were subjugated? Did this Holy Divine truly bring an end to the Ankivari? Could He do the same to the Tyranny? And what role will you play in all of this? And of course, what power had set you free?

There was a lot to consider but it was evident to you that a single Umbrian stranded in a hostile land could not achieve much by himself. Sitting in a coffee house in the Bazaari quadrant of the city, you wonder whether there will be potential allies to be found amongst these people who will look past your origins and see the Spirit of the Hunter within?

Prologue: Into the Shadows (Raouf al-Kapur)

You were born in the ivory tower of the al-Kapur family estate in the City of Opal, Helespolis. The oldest of just two childern in a prestigous house, you were destined for greatness. From an early age you knew you would be entrusted to run your house on the day your father passed on. Your family wasn't very religious and your father was a harsh and accomplished wizard always hungry for more power. To him, you were merely another asset to be nurtured for his own purposes. It was early on in your life that it became clear you had little magical aptitude, so your father sent you to one of the training schools of the powerful Hassaris. "If you can't wield a wand, you will learn to stick the knife in!" was your father's last words to you before you departed for the City of Pearl, Darvish Kapur, at the young age of seven.

After the excitement and trepidation of the trip to your boarding school, you felt liberated to be away from your father's tough discipline. Your natural charisma and intelligence made making friends easy at your school and your showed natural aptitude in the Hassari arts, rising to be the unrivalled leader of your class. You mastered blade and poison quickly. You were particularly good at improvisation. Subtle and quick, you would have had a promising future in the order if you weren't already destined to be the head of a noble house.

Out of sight meant out of the mind of your father. Your mother, aloof and concerned only with her own luxurious lifestyle, was no better. Only your younger sister, Leila, would write to you but after many years at the Hassari school without returning home even once, you found it difficult to keep in touch. Only on your sixteenth birthday, when you were officiated into the order, did your father send you a gift: A rare and magical implement, the Ghost Strike Ki, that made you even more deadly with the dagger. Yet in your heart you were left bitter that none of your family were there in person to celebrate the moment of your ascension.

It was in a state of anger and melancholy that you lashed out at a fellow pupil during the final initiations before you would become licensed by your order to take approved contracts. What should have been a non-lethal proving contest turned bloody and the inner demons inside you were unleashed in a violent display that saw your fellow Hassari butchered like an animal. This was an unspeakable breaking of the oaths that bound the Hassari as brothers and you were flogged, stripped and thrown into the street with nothing but shame. Your father upon hearing of this, cursed your name, disowning you and disbarring you from your inheritance in preference to your younger sister.

A life with the promise of power as the inheritor of the house al-Kapur or brotherhood in the Hassari order vanished before your eyes. In the days that followed, you scavanged like an animal in the backstreets until you had gathered the means to survive without becoming prey to the criminals of the seedier parts of the city. Months past until you had mustered the energy to break into your old school, stealing your precious Ki and other supplies before vanishing into the night.

It has been over a year since the events that saw you an outcast and you have made a subsistence level living as an assassin for low-class criminals, a waste of your professional training but a necessary means to stay alive.

Today, started like most others with you heading to the coffee house frequented by the Bazaari, waiting for the fateful scroll that would give you some poor mark to meet their fate at your hands. Yet this time the scroll that was put before you did not name a victim but reported the news that your father had perished, the victim of a magical disaster. The hand written note by the Vazier Hamish al-Torfan suggested your father had practiced unlawful necromancy and his work had resulted in a terrible infestation of shadow creatures upon your family's estate. You did not shed a tear for the old bastard that had disowned you but only felt some sadness at the news that your mother and sister had perished with him. Hours and many cups of coffee have passed since you read the scroll and realised that the life you knew was truly over. You wonder: Where would fate take you now?

Prologue: Man of the People (Rafiq al-Rashid)

You were born into comfort and privalege if not great power as your high-born house, al-Rashid, had faced centuries of decline from the time of their founding in the early Caliphate. Your childhood was one of idyllic peace growing up on the family estate, Hamzi-e-Rashid in the Gilded Quarter of the City of Pearl, Darvish Kapur. Your parents were both loving and took great care to give you and your brother and sister, the best education they could afford. The family's tutor Farid Mehdari was a good man and like an uncle to you. He ensured you were grounded in the necessasities of a high born's life: philosophy, art, drama, etiquette, the arcane and history. As the youngest child you were indulged in ways your older sister, A'isha, and brother, Nasir, perhaps never were. There was the usual brotherly rivalry between you and Nasir and A'isha took her role as eldest far too seriously in your books. Her harsh discipline was much hated when it occured but over the years you began to appreciate both her love for you and the burden of being the eldest child.

In your teenage years you were respectful but delinquent, finding games with the city children a far preferable endeavour than long laborious studies cooped up in your estate. Despite your interaction with the children of the mardoum, you still found yourself socially awkward and exasparated when dealing with fellow high-born children. You preferred to lurk in the shadows at annual eid feasts and other parties, sneaking out to play games on the streets when you could. Whilst you had no real friends due to the limitations of being out of your social class much of the time, you earned admiration for your quick wit, humour and sense of social justice. On more than one occassion you outsmarted bullies and roughians who picked on the weak and defenseless.

By the time you became an adult, it was naturally assumed your way with the people would lead to some civic role, perhaps even a place on the Majlis. The Majlis of Darvish Kapur was more in tune with the needs of the people than most other cities and more than a few of the high-born would try to represent the mardoum in its sessions. However, politics was still an ugly business and your family's low standing and your own inability to get along too well with the other high-born held you back from seeking office.

When your parents died, two years ago, your sister was elected to the Majlis and your brother was left to run the family estate, turning the family's stakes in various city businesses and caravans into regular profit. Your brother's exceled in finance and business, giving him the moniker of "the High Born Bazaari," as an insult by the other high born. Your sister has proven a ruthless and determined politician, punching way above the weight her family name or magical prowess would otherwise afford.

Meanwhile, you have been written off as nothing more than a waster who spends far too much time with the people, solving their petty problems and showing a lack of ambition. You brush off this criticism and devote yourself to doing good and keeping the city you love a peaceful place. But in your heart, you feel somewhat lost and rootless. You have begun to question whether this is all that life has to offer you. Is this all you are capable off?

It is thoughts like these that swarm your mind as you sit drinking coffee in the coffee house north of the Bazaar. Perhaps, you think to yourself, it is time to broaden your horizons and seize an opportunity to be more than the youngest son of a minor house. The city you love is peaceful and the people content. It is not an unjust place and it has not faced true peril in your lifetime. Whilst your empathy and intelligence serve the people here, do they really need you? All these thoughts weigh heavy on your mind as the morning turns into afternoon.

Prologue: Out of the Wilderness (Maissa al-Bahari)

You were a remarkable child and a blesssing to your geriatric parents, coming in the winter of their lives with six strong older brothers many years your senior. Your father, a tribal chief amongst the nomadic Bahari, had already seen his sons follow the Holy Divine's path as Dervishes, the spinning acrobatic warriors that defended the people against the dangers of the desert. It nearly broke your mother's heart when at the tender age of six, a Jandicary visited your tribe and told them that you had the gift from the Holy Divine and must be trained for the perils of your fate. Reluctantly, they allowed you to be educated by the tribe's shaiq, a Bahari priest, and over the course of your education wandering Jandicary would arrive to improve your discipline with the sword and teach you the tactics of battle. Dozens of different men and a couple of women were your tutors as you wandered the Bahar desert with your tribe.
It was on your sixteenth birthday that you finally received the blessing of your parents on your journey as a Jandicary neophyte and the gift of the family treasured heirloom of Dragon Silk clothing to protect you. Set an almost impossible task you travelled alone to the Arkash Mesa where the spirits of the long-banished Shaitun tested your endurance and resolve. For nearly two years, you lived a life of peril and subsistence; your body and mind taken to the edge of what they could endure; your will to live tested and your faith in the Holy Divine's great plan for you shaken time and time again. The final baptism of fire saw you defeat the plot of an Efreet, an evil elemental of the plane of fire, with barely a breath left in your body.
Having endured the trials that saw you become truly a rod for the One True Faith, you returned home to your father's tribe only to learn that your parents and your brothers had all been slain in a devastating attack by the monstrous desert creatures called Ugkrya. The brutish ogres had come in force and your brothers had bravely faced them despite their numbers to allow the rest of the tribe to make their escape. It seemed your ties to this world were severed and you felt a great emptiness in your soul. It took all your discipline not to seek to devote your life to bloody vengeance for that went against all the teachings of your order. In your heart you knew the Holy Divine had other plans for you.
Desolate and unsure of your path, you meditated for weeks in the hill lands seeking divine guidance. It was in the depths of your fasting that a vision came to you of a perilous danger to all the people of the Caliphate. A nightmare vision of an elemental horde unleashed upon the lands and the burning of a city you had never seen in your own life. Once out of your trance, you tried desperately to recall the details of the prophecy, sketching what you could remember using charcoal and granite.
Seeking answers you returned to the remnants of the tribe where you sought the counsel of your old tutor, the shaiq Mustafa ibn-Quom, who recognised your etchings as none other than the City of Pearl, Darvish Kapur. It was clear to you then that your destiny lay there and the Holy Divine's role for you would become clear once you arrived. So you travelled across the desert with the few meagre possessions you had and arrived at the almost alien city, with its bustling people and thick walls that felt like a cage for your soul.
Three weeks you have stayed in the city, moving every three nights as the bonds of hospitality allow those friendly to your order and people to give you shelter. You have wandered every street and alley of the city and learned many of the names of those you met but still there has been no sign or divine guidance as to what danger awaits this tranquil city.
Still your trust in the Holy Divine has never faltered and on this spring day you find yourself in the coffee house north of the Bazaar listening for anything that the One True Divine puts before you as a guide.

Xo Tang

A dragonborn captain of the "Jealous Wyrm" airship. A skilled magi with a keen business sense. He rescued the party of Maissa al-Bahari from the Fey Isle and tasked them with helping him recover the Six Dragon Eggs from the Isle of the Dead. 

After attacks by Dragonborn pirates and magical flying storm beasts, he managed to get the party to Darvish Kapur before supposedly heading to the T'chin Empire.

Wassim al-Kapur

The younger brother of the Shiekh of Darvish Kapur he was an accomplished spell-sword in his younger days. He carries the burden of twelve daughters to marry off heavily and his primary goal these days is to find suitable husbands for them all.

Vazier Freydun al-Mosar

Freydun has tutored and guided three generations of the al-Kapur family Sheiks and is a highly respected and very powerful wizard. He has a soft spot for up and coming outsiders, having been one himself in his long distant youth, and a strong sense of justice in his dealing with everyone. His primary focus is the defense of the city and the Caliphate from the many plots nad schemes of the Djinn and Shaitun. His friendly manner belies a fatalistic and pessimistic nature.

The Mysterious H

The Mysterious H is an unnamed civil servant and suspected trained Hassari in league or controlling of Wassim al-Kapur. There is some suspicion he has some connection with Riad ibn-Dajjium, the Hassari student killed by Raof al-Kapur (a distant cousin of the ruling al-Kapur's of Darvish Kapur). 

He first became known to the party when he hired a skilled pickpocket to steal the Magical Brass Oil Lamp from Raouf and sent him on a wild goose chase to what could have been his doom on the Isle of the Fey. However, Raouf and his friends managed to survive the trials only to return to Darvish Kapur to hear H had already assassinated the Sheikh. 

He is believed to orchestrated the purging of much of Darvish Kapur's Majlis and hunted down Raouf and Maissa's adventuring party, ultimately resulting in the destruction of the Mosque.

Sheikh Omar al-Kapur

The Sheik of Darvish Kapur is considered a good and wise ruler by the inhabitants of the city. He is famed for his sense of justice and hands off approach to the day to day affairs of the city. He maintains his power by standing aloof from the backbiting politics and schemes of the other High Born, taking no sides and offering conciliation in any disputes. This is helped by the fierce loyalty of his Royal Guardsmen who protect the White Palace and the al-Kapur family. 

Assassinated by the Mysterious H in Sabze-mah 641

Sharif Umar ibn-Pasdari

Umar comes from a commoner's background and has risen to the position of Sharif thanks to a strong work ethic and a no-nonsense approach to policing the important places within Darvish Kapur

Samedi "Two Sword" al-Nuamar

Leader of the "Black Crescent" mercenary company, an affable man with a cold heart for stellars. He never forgets a debt owed.

Saleh ‘One-Eye Mufti’ al-Murza

Ayotollah of Darvish Kapur 

The highest mufti of Darvish Kapur, he stood with the rest of his order in holding back the high born wizards aligned with the Mysterious H who wanted Maissa al-Bahari and destroyed the Mosque of Darvish Kapur. 

Presumed dead.

Ramzi the Brutish

A huge man with incredible strength, brother of Hakim the Devastating, was once one of a handful of the Sheik's personal guards before he was assassinated. 

Defeated by the adventuring party of Maissa and the Umbrian Shade to whom he surrendered. He sacrificed his life to allow them to escape the city of Darvish Kapur.

Princess Salima

A young member of the ruling family of Darvish Kapur, she is niece to the Sheikh. She is usually found relaxing and socialising in the Gilded Quarter coffee houses. Her father is keen to find her a bride.

Princess Jabilya

The youngest daughter of the al-Kapuri family she is a clever and well-meaning wizard and citizen with a promising future in politics

Mossein Samedi

A Bazaari captain of the "Searing Gull" dhow and a former member of the Hassari

Hilal al-Mossar

A religious scholar who died recently (on 6th Sabze-mah 641). Renowned for his works on the Shadow plane. A quiet and unassuming man in his lifetime

Hassani ibn-Manargi

A bazaari who was murdered by the Cult of al-Havas as they used his family home as a route to one of their shrines within the City of Pearl. His wife, sons and daughters were also butchered.

Hakim the Devastating

Hakim and his brother Ramzi were personal guard's of the sheikh before his assassination. Sensing betrayal by the mysterious H who hired them to protect the sheikh in the first place, Hakim and his brother hid in the Mardoum quarter of the city and planned to escape the city when the adventuring party of Rafiq arrived and the Hassari Raouf betrayed his word and tried to kill them. 

Hakim died in the ensuing fight.

Hadia Idia

Once a powerful elementalist sorceror who worshiped the Elemental Prince of Air, she had been imprisoned in the Shadow place for hundreds of years until recently being defeated by a group of adventurers. 

She is presumed dead although it is unclear whether an undead thing can truly be killed in the land of the dead.

Ankivari Archives

The Ankivari Archives contained a collection of scholarly work on the culture and artefacts of the ancient Ankivari. However, sometime in the time of the Third Prophet the archive become abandoned and most of its materials left to rot. 

In the present age, adventurers rediscovered its locations south of the Ghormeh Fern and braved its magical protections to enter its inner vaults where they recovered the Tome of Miriam, a scholarly work on the Shadow place and the Cult of al-Havas

Temple of al-Havas

This temple within the Shadow place was the stronghold and eventually the prison of the elementalist Hadia Idia, founder of the Cult of al-Havas

Manzil-e-Shamar Coffee House

This coffee house in the Bazaari quarter of the City of Pearl is famed for the scene of a murder that brought together the adventurers Maissa, Raouf, Rafiq, Pang and Shade.

Fey Isle

A small island south of Darvish Kapur in the Azure Sea notably for its outcrop of Fey vegetation that has been fashioned into an ever changing maze and guarded by riddle loving gargoyles. 

The center of the maze contains an old grantie tower that appears to act as a temporary portal to the Fey realm.

Sukout (Thieves Guild)

The Sukout (literally "Silent") are the thieves guild of the Caliphate organised into operation and independent cells which often compete within themselves. They guard their territories and their illicit businesses aggressively from those who do not belong to their order and will often pressgang unwitting souls into their schemes to further their aims. 

Some speculate that they have no official leadership and merely self-organised thieves using the mystique of the legendary name of the guild to enforce their power. This is supported by the constant change and competition in the terms of the make up and territory of individual cells. However, those of the Jandicary and Pasdari who have made it their lives work to thwart and destroy the Sukout are convinced there is a council of elder thieves whom all cells pay tithes to and who organise the big deals within the seven cities.

Cult of al-Havas

The Cult of al-Havas, the Elemental Prince of the Air, was founded early in the time of the Caliphate by the misguided elementalist Hadia Idia who sought to earn favour with the Prince and eternal life for her troubles. However, the bargain they had was either not fulfilled or something prevented Hadia from achieving her goals because instead of eternal life she was turned into a lich who dwelt in the Shadow place with little of her former power. 

Yet her many sealed and hidden writings have opened a path to her followers long after her entrapment in the shadow plane. One recent cell of her followers attempted to break her out of the Shadow place in the city of Darvish Kapur but was stopped by the party of Maissa al-Bahari, Rafiq al-Rashid and Raouf al-Kapur plus their two foreign companions, Shade and Pang. Venturing into the Shadow place they located Hadia's temple to al-Havas and destroyed the lich in her prison. 

Facing reprisial attacks from the Cult, the party of adventurers soon learned that even with Hadia seemingly defeated, the Cult's lure and influence was still a force within the Caliphate.

Black Crescent Mercenaries

This group of mercenaries is composed of experience veteran Pasdari who have been lured by the charismatic Samedi al-Nuamar to work independent contracts in the hinterlands of the Caliphate. Their prices are high but their reputation suggests they are men and women who are able to take on great foes with success. 

Whether it is clearing a nest of magic beasts, culling the population of the Sewer Goblins or dealing with roaming bands of ogres, the Black Crescent are often called upon by the rich and powerful.

Tome of Miriam

The Tome of Miriam is a scholarly work by an illustrious mufti scholar during the time of the Third Prophet around the time of Hadia Idia, the elementalist and founder of the Cult of al-Havas. 

It discusses in detail the rituals and magic involved in travel between the Shadow place and the human plane as well as the philosophical nature of the planes connections with each other and the Elemental Chaos.

Six Dragon Eggs

The great dragon eggs found on the Isle of the Dead had been sought after by Xo Tang for many years before being located in the Caliphate. 

The adventuring party of Rafiq recovered the eggs and gave them to Xo Tang to return to the T'chin Empire.

Magical Oil Brass Lamp

An artefact of some great power but unclear purpose, this brass oil lamp was sent from Heliopolis to Darvish Kapur by Farid al-Kapur, the father of Raouf the Hassari. 

It was stolen by the Mysterious H and only recovered thanks to Ramzi the Brutish who gave it to the Jandicarry Maissa al-Bahari

Magic Flying Carpet

The magical flying carpet once belonged Saleh al-Murza, Ayotallah of Darvish Kapur, before it was taken with permission by Rafiq al-Rashid and his fellow adventurers. 

It is currently out of magical power and would need a specific ritual to restore its flying ability.

Jisha (Sewer Goblins of the Undercities)

The sewers of the seven cities are rife with all manner of unsavoury creatures but the most pervasive are the Sewer Goblins or Jisha (literally "pisslings") who dwell in the rank filth exclusively. Their culture is one of scavengers who take great delight in killing each other or anything else that they think they can overpower. At heart the Jisha are cowards who will flee rather than face an equal or greater foe than their current numbers allow. They are quite intelligent in their own way and adaptiveness has earned them some praise from some scholars. 

They breed like vermin and the cities of the Caliphate conduct yearly purges of the undercity population, usually follow reports of rising numbers of bold Jisha raids to the above city. Completely eliminating them has proven elusive as they are resilient to the many attempts of genocide that has been committed against them. They seem to only evolve to slightly stronger or smarter variants when purged and often elect the strongest or most intelligent to lead them out of their calamity. Goblin shamans and arcanists are rare and their magic weak when compared to the High Born of the Caliphate but still capable of endless mischief. They occassionally get called upon as minions for darker and more dangerous creatures of the deep undercities or from other reality realms.

Gondehmar (Ogres of the North)

The Gondehmar ogres are brutal savages who usually prefer an isolated existence of wanton cruelty and lazing about in the hill lands of the northern Caliphate. However, on occassion they are rallied by a particularly brutish Chieftain or Shaman and form terrifying warbands that raid human and Darvaki settlements. 

Ogres are incapable of skilled craft and salvage their tools from the settlements and caravans that are unlucky to fall on their path. They have no written language and their verbal tongue is basic. This has not prevented them practicing a wicked form of flesh magic that sees their victims flayed and cut to feed the dark powers of the Shadow realm.

Time in the Caliphate

The people of the Caliphate mark time along the path of the moon Mah. The position of its little sister Sham determines the days of the week. There are twelve months of four weeks of seven days in each year.

Months

1: Zendeh-mah

2: Behesht-mah

3: Sabze-mah

4: Garm-mah

5: Atash-mah

6: Sucht-mah

7: Arum-mah

8: Badi-mah

9: Farash-mah

10: Marg-mah

11: Yaght-mah

12: Helg-mah

Days of the Week

1: Yek-Shambeh (Bazaar Day)

2: Doh-Shambeh (Bazaar Day)

3: Ceh-Shambeh (Bazaar Day)

4: Char-Shambeh (Bazaar Day)

5: Joh-Shambeh (Day of Prayer / Public Holiday)

6: Shish-Shambeh

7: Shambeh (Day of Rest / Public Holiday)

Eids (Holidays)

1: Nowh-rooz – New Year – 1^st of Zendeh-Mah

2: -Eid-e-Behesht – Spring Equinox – 14^th of Behesht-mah

3: Eid-e-Atash – Summer Equinox – 14^th of Atash-mah

4: Eid-e-Badi – Autumn Equinox - 14^th of Badi-mah

5: Eid-e-Yaght – Winter Equinox - 14^th of Yaght-mah

6: Eid-e-Mardoum – People's Holiday - 1^st of Sabze-Mah

7: Eid-e-Caliph – Foundation of the Caliphate- 22^nd of Farash-mah

Calendar Years

The Calendar of the Caliphate marks the years since the caliphate was founded as Sari-Caliph which is abbrevated as S.C. 

T'chin (Dragonkin of the East)

The Dragonkin of the T'chin Empire are regular visitors to the eastern cities, arriving in their strange, elegant Dragonships that sail through the sky as easily as they ply the waters. They often bring vast hauls of rare metal trinkets, ceramics and exotic herbs and spices with them making good business with the bazaari for iron ore, gemstones and textiles. Whilst the Dragonborn do not forbid visitors to their lands, few ships can sail past the hazardous reefs that guard their domain and the route by land across the Thousand Grains marshland is perilous. Still a few brave souls have travelled east beyond the Khagar Mountains or landed on the T'chin coast to find cities that dwarf the jewels of the Caliphate in their size and splendour. The Dragonkin numbers are legion and their cities house vast multi-level cavernous buildings that reach up into the heavens themselves.

The T'chin also display a vastly superior understanding of the arcane and it is only the fact of a regressive, dictatorial Empire that values the Old Way of the Wyrms above all else that halts their powerful Magis from dominating the entire world with their magic. The T'chin Empire is blessedly an inward looking entity, forever busying itself with maintaining the balance of its several strains of people. This is usually a subtle affair but on occasion spills into genocidal cullings of overpopulated areas.

Society in the Empire is highly structured with little freedom to cast off your birth colours and the position inherited from your parents. Each Dragonkin will perform the same function as his father or mother, depending on gender, until they die and so will any children they are allowed to hatch. Population control is a part of the balance the T'chin strive towards and thus mating and brooding are privileges that are given to the lucky few based on the need to replace numbers in each social stream to maintain equilibrium.

It is no surprise that Dragonkin who have ventured beyond the borders of the Empire find a world of chaos and freedom that is liberating. A few indulge a little too readily in these freedoms. Whilst tolerated in the Caliphate, partly for their value in trade and partly for fear of angering their Empire, they are often victims of nefarious dealers in their organs, eggs and hides which are highly valued components in the arcane or to a competent leatherworker. The experienced Dragonkin traveller learns early to avoid dark alleys without protection in numbers.

Umbrians (Elves of Westermor)

The Umbrians are a wild, wicked people who sail from the distant continent of Westermor to raid the unaware or even heavily armed ships that ply the Golden Gulf. Their long lithe bodies and pointy ears are as distinctive as their agile swords and accurate archery. They have long sold their souls to the Elementals who give their warlocks power in return for feeding them human souls.

The Umbrians view themselves as nothing more than truly free spirits who indulge their whims and live in harmony with the natural order, rejecting the dictates and false order of the Holy Divine. They instead turn to the Old Gods, the spirits of plants and animals, who answer their prayers and bring blight and pestilence upon the people of the Caliphate.

Few humans have lived to tell of their encounters with the Umbrians and they are literally the stuff of children's stories and coffee house gossip. Once in a while, an Umbrian sword or wand finds its way into the bazaars and there is ferocious bidding for the forbidden artefact imbued with dark magics. 

Darvaki (Dwarves of the Hamadar Mountains)

The Darvaki Clans of the northern Hamadi Mountains and the hills of the borderland below them are a proud and ancient race of dwarves who hold fast to their long traditions. They have lived upon the lands to the north from before the time the people of the Caliphate fled here from beyond the Azure Sea.

They honour their ancestors through the tombs inside their great stone holds built buried deep beneath the mountains and only accessible through fortified passageways blocked by solid rock and cunning traps. Some few of the Clans settle in the hilltops and mountain paths in smaller holds for purposes of trade and hunting. The Darvaki diet consists of mostly of rasht, a wheat-like funghi grown under the ground and game hunted in the hills and mountains.

Their society is a complicated web of blood ties, oaths and matters of honour that often spills into fratricidal warfare. When not fighting amongst themselves, they prove a nuisance to the northern villages and cities. Whilst neither stealthy nor subtle, the march of the Darvaki warbands bring the prospect of looting and pillaging. Some Darvaki clans are thought to enjoy the taste of human flesh and whether this is true or not, the myth is kept alive by the Darvaki themselves.

During the periods of peace, the Darvaki are known to trade with the bazaari of the north, selling their intricate metalworks and cunning devices in return for food, metals and precious gemstones. Their skill as craftsmen is the envy of the Mohandice who study their work to improve their own. Darvaki armour and steel is the prized possession or family heirloom in many houses of the High Born.

Bahari (Desert Nomads)

The nomadic tribes of the desert plains called the Bahari are a hospitable people who travel from one oasis to the next, setting up makeshift camps and trading with the caravans that pass them by. Their lives are dedicated to raising sheep and goats for sustenance and they lay claim to the wilderness between the cities and beyond the farmlands of the river deltas. They protect these rights in a fearsome manner and many a sheik has been humbled by the raiding parties of their Dervish warriors whose spinning acrobatics and powerful prayers have routed better armed opponents time and time again. They are devout worshippers of the One Divine and merciless to those heretics and sub-humans that cross their paths or think they can find shelter at their oasis. Whilst their numbers are not what they once were, the greatest threat to the Bahari comes from the lure of the cities to their young who seek a new life beyond simple subsistence or constant travel.

Fereng (Slaves)

If life for the Mardoum is hard, life for the Fereng is one of mortal toil and suffering. The Fereng are the underclass of the Caliphate comprised of indentured workers of indebted Mardoum to captured slaves of the Darvaki clans. They are given food and shelter of varying standards, punished routinely and face execution if they prove disobedient or fall to illness or fatigue. They can range from labourers and household servants to pit fighters and artisans. If they are lucky they will find faithful masters who will treat them with some compassion. Those unlucky enough to try to escape and fail, will suffer public torture and execution.

Mardoum (Peasants)

The general population of the Caliphate is known as the Mardoum (literally: people), many of whom live within the cities but a good number are to be found in villages and farms outside the protection of their walls. Life in the Caliphate is ordered but harsh. Crops fail, fires devastate homes, disease spreads in the cramped conditions of the poor quarters of the cities and all this before the evil plots of the Shaitun and Djinn work their ways.

The Mardoum are often forgotten by the high born and the Bazaari care only about the gold they can extract from them. Is it any wonder they turn to local heroes from amongst themselves to save them from the predations of evil? Blessed be the agent of the One Divine who cares for the people.

Jandicary (Holy Order)

The Jandicary are the militant wing of the religion of the One Divinity who are few in number but individually powerful. These paladins answer to no-one directly but their own leaders: the Tollah, a secret governing body whose members are known only to the most experienced of their order. The Jandicary do not concern themselves in the day to day affairs of the Caliphate although they are an order of highest prestige and influence, only possibly rivalled by the Hassari. Few dare oppose the will of a Jandicary and those who do often meet a terrible fate. There is no denying that the Holy Divinity is with these men and women and their zeal for destroying dangerous heretics, foul abominations and evil invaders from the Elemental planes is well known throughout the land.

Membership of the Jandicary is by invitation only. A promising young ward is often seized and tested against a lesser shaitun early in life and if he survives he becomes a part of the order receiving scholarship from muftis who are trusted by the Order and martial training by visiting Jandicary. The Jandicary themselves do not have any permanent abode, at least none known to the populace at large.

Pasdari (Guardsmen)

The cities of the Caliphate are protected by the Pasdari, the guardsmen and soldiers under the employ of the Sheik with the solemn duty to keep the peace and punish troublemakers and thieves. The life of the Pasdari is one of guard duty of important governmental buildings and the bustling bazaars where people gather on most days. The Pasdari is a hierarchical military order that welcomes everyone into its ranks although few of the high born demean themselves by performing what they deem are menial tasks or mixing with lower born castes of society openly.

The head of the Pasdari in each city is called the Sharif and it is a position of some power if low social standing in comparison to the high born orders.

Mohandice (Guild of Craftsman)

The Mohandice (or literally “Handy Men's Guild”) is both regulator and educator of the bustling city crafts and trades. Everything from ironsmithing to stonemasonry is represented by the guild which issues licenses and grades the skill of its members for the benefit of the buying public. It is also a union which enforces fair payment and prices in each city, punishing those who offer unlicensed work or refuse to make a timely payment for work done.

Each city division of the Mohandice has a Danashka (university) where members are trained through apprenticeship and lectures governed by the Raiis (pronounced: rah-ees, meaning boss) of the order.

Bazaari (Merchants)

The free-wheeling merchants of the Caliphate loosely organise themselves into the Bazaari network. Each city has its own grouping of Bazaari who meet on a regular basis at the coffee houses to discuss matters of economics and politics. Together they control the vital spaces of the bazaar (marketplace), the caravans that travel along the roads and riversides and the ships that sail to ports near and far. They guard their rights through the powerful economic levers at their disposal and whilst they are an open order and have no permanently elected leaders they conduct ad-hoc missions to sheiks and foreign lords and decide upon the applications of new members through democratic straw-polling. These straw polls are often influenced by merchants who are prominent, well-liked or resourceful. There is a strong shame / pride culture amongst the Bazaari and a strong role for hospitality especially of the far travelling stranger. You never know when the stranger in your lands will become the friend to your distant caravan.

Majlis (Parliament of Wizards)

Whilst the sheiks are the eminent authorities of each city, they entrust much of the day to day running of their lands to the Majlis, a parliament of high-born wizards who in turn elect a Vazier to lead them every five years. Each city's Majlis varies in size and structure, with some cities having a collegiate atmosphere whilst others divided along partisan political lines. Occasionally, a Majlis will overstep its authority and the Sheik will close it down for a time until the high born understand who pulls the strings in his cities. It has even been known for a young, inexperienced or disinterested Sheikh to vest most of his own power with the Majlis. Such cuckolded sheiks rarely prosper but the ambitions of a powerful Vazier can work to the good or bad of the people.

Majlis are not elected bodies and their members are drawn from the greatest high born families by consensus of the existing members and the Sheik's will. Membership is as much a reward for good citizenship as it is a way to give ownership to otherwise troublesome and powerful wizards.

The Majlis, despite being a fraternity of wizards isn't a learning institution for young wizards. The high born educate their own children privately through tutors who earn varying wages based on their renown and ability.

Hassari (Assassins Brotherhood)

The Hassari are an order of trained killers who specialise in stealth and poison. They are almost exclusively drawn from the High Born although wealthy Bazaari who offer sufficiently large donations and the children of prominent members of other orders are occasionally accepted. The usual recruitment age is seven years old and neophytes are given a long, often fatal regime of training and discipline in the dark arts of subterfuge and assassination. Whilst many are pure rogues who prefer light blades and poison, a few are dabblers in magic and a few are avengers of the One Divine who bring low the heretical or heathen with prayer.

The Hassari are also fond of their fereng thralls, non-humans who are bought as slaves and indoctrinated into deadly killing machines under the watchful eyes of the Overseers of the order.

Mufti (Religious Scholars)

The Mufti are the religious order of the Caliphate entrusted with the sacred duty of saving the souls of the people. Most Mufti spend their lives in quiet study and contemplation on the words of the Prophets. Some serve as lawyers and judges in the clerical courts that hear all legal cases. Others act as advisers to Sheiks or curators of the temples in each city. A few special Muftis hunt rogue wizards and warlocks across the lands.

Whilst some of the Mufti come from the ranks of the High Born they are an open order who will accept any human who has zeal and great faith in the righteous plan of the Holy Divine.

High Born (Rulers)

The familial clans of the sheiks and their vaziers have long held tight the reigns of power throughout the Caliphate. They jealously guard knowledge of the arcane and enforce a strict religious code throughout the land forbidding those outside their caste from dabbling in forbidden lore. In principle this is to avoid the dangers of poorly schooled wizards unleashing terrible magics or becoming unwitting pawns in the games of the Elemental Princes. However, there is a good deal of self-preservation in their jealous stranglehold of the reigns of power.

Each of the cities has anything from half a dozen to tens of high-born families who are constantly jostling for power and defending the honour of their families. The strongest families are called the Holy Quadamite who trace their ancestors back to one of the Prophets:, the families of Al-Fardur, al-Darvasha, Cyrusia and Maryami. Some of the head of these high-born families hold the title Sheik of one of the jewelled cities, others are prominent in the various orders or the Majlis of others.

Behoustan (City of Topaz)

Location: North-eastern along the river Kimri

Sheik: Jalal ibn-Bahari

Vazier: Quavar al-Takish

The city of Behoustan lies to the north of Darvash Kapur along the Kimri river and many of its inhabitants are descended from the nomadic Bahari who settled here and built the city. As such the city, cherishes its old mud and hatch buildings that are unique in the Caliphate. The rich mudlands along the riverside have allowed the city a prosperous trade in ceramics and caravans and riverboats visit its bazaars with much needed goods from the other cities in exchange for its pots, vases and fine strong bricks. The Kimri is prone to rise to high levels and thanks to the dam building and alterations to its flow by the city of Pearl, Behoustan's outlying villages are often swept aside in flash floods. It is perhaps part of the character inherited from their Bahari forefathers that the people of this sheikdom accept the temporary nature of their homes and are skilled at rebuilding their livelihoods after the rainy seasons. The swells of the river bring change and uncover long forgotten mysteries and rumours of strange creatures driven west from the Thousand Grains make life in Behoustan one of uncertainty and tribulation.

Parviz (City of Emerald)

Location: Northern coast of the Golden Gulf

Sheik: Tamatsu al-Mahmudi

Vazier: The Veiled One

The city of Parviz lies on a natural bay in-between the cliffs overlooking the Golden Gulf. Its great docks are famous for the dhows they build to order for those bazaari that can afford them as well as the green vines that rise and cover its sea-walls. Besides the famous shipyards of the city, it is also home to one of the great wonders of the ancient Ankivari: the Tower of Light, a looming structure on a small island not far off the coast, that may have acted as either a lighthouse or portal to the Elemental planes during the Heresy. Despite being abandoned and unused for hundreds of years, it is still a potent reminder of the dark powers preying on the people and many a soul has been lost venturing inside. It is no rumour that Umbrian sea raiders make a habit of preying on ships leaving the city as the Golden Gulf is their hunting grounds and few dare to venture into the water without a suitable regiment of hired swords.

Yasminah (City of Diamond)

Location: Western coast on the Azure Sea and Golden Gulf

Sheik: Kuduzsullush al-Darvasha

Vazier: Mohatmar ibn-Artesh

The city of Yasminah is unofficially the capital of the Caliphate although those of Shushan would debate this. It is certainly where the sheiks, muftis and other orders have been gathering on an irregular basis since the rule of the last Caliph. It is as such a busy metropolis; many powerful bazaari and orders maintain a large presence in the city. It is also home to a small but growing cult called the Mehdi (martyrs) who are famed for their suicidal but effective attacks on the powerful who are deemed not to adhere sufficiently to the Holy Scriptures. It is the subject of much speculation as to who the Mehdi's leaders and backers are with some believing the Sheik himself responsible and others believing it is a mufti plot against the Sheik instead. The city is almost on the verge of civil war due to the rivalries of various high born families and some muftis are known to stir the pot with powerful tirades against the corruption in the city. Rumours of an elemental portal allowing Djinn to travel to the mortal plane and sow discord amongst the people is a common topic in the coffee houses.

Atash-Azadi (City of Ruby)

Location: North-western hill lands

Sheik: Fatima Maryami

Vazier: Khourush Mehdari

The city of Atash-Azadi is built on the hills which legends say are the fallen body of the last Fire Giant of the North. The city is literally known as “freedom from fire” in the ancient dialect and beyond the legends, it is famous for its rich iron ore and renowned for its steel. It is therefore no coincidence it is also home to the largest population of fereng Darvaki in the Caliphate. It is unusual in being the only sheikdom that chooses the oldest female member of the Maryami family as its sheik, following the tradition laid down after the Fourth Prophet. As one of the few cities not on a major river or on the coast, it relies solely on caravans who make the journey regardless of the dangers involved, to buy some of its high quality refined metals. Besides the ever present danger of Darvaki raids, rumours of foul beasts in forgotten caverns in the hills beyond the city bring a steady stream of adventurers seeking fame and fortune.

Shushan (City of Saphire)

Location: Central southern coast on the Azure Sea.

Sheik: Hamid Al-Fardur

Vazier: Tossan ibn-Mahadra

Shushan is perhaps the oldest city of the Caliphate, having been founded by the First Prophet himself according to legend. It is certainly the most populated city. Its temples house the greatest collection of antiquities and ancient scrolls in the lands. It is sometimes called the City of Coronation for it is here the Caliph was crowned and it is here that the next one will be if ever a single sheik rises to such power. Whilst it is a port city, it is not a usually busy with the exception of travelling muftis who make the pilgrimage to its temples on an annual basis. The sheikdom has some fertile lands along the deltas on the banks of the Targyr river but these only manage to feed its own people. Rumours of hidden vaults of holy scriptures and artefacts abound.

Helespolis (City of Opal)

Location: Jazeera (Island)

Sheik: Reza Cyrusia

Vazier: Hamish al-Torfan

Helespolis is a sprawling city on Jazeera, an island off the southern coast in the Azure Sea. Throughout much of the year it is a busy port city although the typhoon season in late summer / early autumn leave it isolated as the water ways become too dangerous for most bazaari dhows. The city is famous for its enclave of scholars in the arcane with a Sheik who is tolerant of experimentation and some say borderline heresy. On more than one occasion a careless or dangerous wizard has opened a portal to the Elemental Planes on Jazeera and the city has survived only thanks to the efforts of the Jandicary. Rumours persist of untouched Ankivari ruins and towers of necromancers upon the island.

Darvish Kapur (City of Pearl)

Location: South-eastern coast on the Azure Sea

Sheik: Omar al-Kapur

Vazier: Freydun al-Mosar

Darvish Kapur is a bustling port city with regular ships visiting from the west along the coast of the Azure Sea and beyond. It is also visited by the Dragonships of the T'chin Empire on occasion. As such the city is particularly wealthy and cosmopolitan and thanks to its location far from the northern borders and dangerous gulf to the west, a relatively safe harbour. The greatest dangers come from the Thousand Grain marshlands across the Kimri river. Rumours of sea serpents and islands of undead to the south also keep the gossips in the coffee houses busy.

History of the Caliphate

In the Beginning...

The Holy Divine set apart the earth and the sky, the fire below and the water at the edge of the Heavens. In each he crafted his servants, the mighty Elemental Princes, who were charged to bring order to the cosmos of his Creation. Each of the Princes believed his own domain superior to the rest and instead of order brought chaos in their pursuit of supremacy against the others.

Undaunted by their hubris, the Holy Divine created life upon the mortal plane by giving a part of his spirit to a mixture of all the elements. Of all of the living things, he created he loved Man the most and gave him the gift of will to seek him through prayer and devotion. The Elemental Princes became jealous of this gift and sought to subvert man and use him in their personal struggle amongst their kind.

It was so that the Holy Divine sent his angels from the Seven Heavens to guide Man, But the Elemental Princes used trickery and deceit to turn some of the angels against the Holy Divine and bring upon damnation upon themselves. These fallen were cast down to the mortal plane and became the Shaitun or Fallen Angels.

The Dark Age of the Shaitun

The Shaitun tricked man and beast into their servitude and they themselves worked as agents for the Elemental Princes. Their loyalties were flexible and unreliable thus no Prince ever managed to gain the upper-hand in their struggle. It was in these dark times that men lost sight of the Holy Divine and worshipped false idols given to them by the Shaitun.

Men became no better than corrupted beasts and some twisted in their blasphemy forming the fereng races that live in the far edges of the world.

The Ankivari Heresy

Of all the cursed fereng that fell foul and far from the pure love of the Holy Divine, none was more foul or cursed than the Ankivari who rose to be masters of the land for many ages before the Prophets set the people free. The Ankivari grew proud and powerful suckling on the dark powers of the Shaitun, mixing their own blood with the foul abominations and casting their dark magics across the world, enslaving the righteous and torturing the just.

Too long did their dark empire of necromancy spread across the land until the Prophets came and liberated the people.

The First Prophets

During the Ankivari Heresy, Five Prophets of the Holy Divine came to the people and broke their bondage and led them to the promised land of freedom which free men enjoy today.

The First Prophet was Fardur the Blind, who cast out the greatest of the Shaitun from the Akivari Empire and ended their Dark Age upon the mortal plane.

The Second Prophet was Darvasha the Great, who broke the bonds of slavery and led the people across the Azure Sea to freedom.

The Third Prophet was Cyric the Wise, who taught the people the Law of the Divine and trusted upon the muftis the education of the righteous way.

The Fourth Prophet was Maryam the Guardian, who built the great arcane towers that protect the people from the Ankivari necromancy.

The Fifth and Final Prophet was Kharish the Caliph, who united the sheiks and formed the Caliphate which finally drove the Ankivari to their ultimate destruction.

The Foundation of the Caliphate

The Caliphate was founded by the fifth and last Prophet, Kharish, who found his people spread across the land disunited and prey to heresy of agents of the long-banished Shaitun and the plots of the scheming Djinn.

The people were led by sheiks, some good and holy whilst others proud tyrants who put their pleasure above the needs of the people. Kharish brought the power of the Holy Divine down upon the cruel and merciless and liberated those who suffered. He rallied the sheiks who were just and true to the Law and for the first time mankind was united under one sovereign lord who worked to bring glory to the Holy Divine.

He built the Caliphate with blood and toil and ensured no sheik would enslave good people and no fereng would make prey of the righteous again. His rule of a hundred years was just and glorious. He founded the Jandicary to watch for heresy and instructed the Muftis to be strict in their teachings of the divine law as spoken by the Archangels to the Prophets. He built great towers and sea walls, fortresses against the raiders from the west and the monsters of the depths. He drove back the Darvaki to their mountain fortresses and set forth the peaceful accord with the T'chin that lasted to this day.

Under Caliph Kharish the people prospered but alas when the last Prophet died he left no heir to rule in his stead and the people feared a return to the civil strife of the past. Yet, the Prophet had not been idle or lacking in foresight and he had put in place laws and order with a promise through prophecy that when the high born of the people were ready, one amongst them would rise to be Caliph. Yet lest any seek to pursue power through the blood of the people, he laid a powerful curse on those who broke the peace.

To this day, some four hundred years since the passing of the Caliph, the Caliphate has remained at peace with itself and no sheikh has dared to bring the Curse of Kharish upon his household.

Letter of Introduction

Peace Be Upon You, O Adventurer of the Golden Caliphate of His Most Holy Divinity

Fortune smiles upon you to be born in the greatest age of mankind and to live amongst the civilized, great sheikdoms of the Caliphate of al-Haram. You may be a high-born of the people, a crafty bazaari out to make your riches or perhaps nothing more than a lowly enslaved fereng, allotted a life of hard labours.

It matters not whether you are prince or pauper, for the Holy Divine smiles upon you still and offers you a chance of Eternal Salvation The Holy Scriptures spoken through the Archangels and written down by the Prophets of the people guide you to the Promised-land of milk and honey. Heed their words, adventurer! And beware the trickery and deceit of the shaitun and djinn who would see you smashed upon the rocks of damnation!

The Caliphate is a bastion of knowledge and law in an otherwise chaotic, barbaric world. Its holy pursuit of understanding and mastery of the Four Elements and the Spirit of all living things is the bedrock of its peace and stability. Only through the guiding hands of the One Divine will mankind fend off the dark powers that plot the ruin of all who live upon the land. The Sacred Scriptures teach us that only those who have undergone purification of body and spirit may be entrusted with that perilous knowledge the common man calls magic. It is thus that the high-born serve the people through their arcane rituals and applied philosophy under the ever watchful eyes of the Muftis who enforce the laws of the Prophets throughout the ages.

The jewels of the Caliphate are its fortress cities protected by the benevolent magic of their Sheiks and the wise management of their Vaziers. Each city has its own identity and unique cultural traits but share in the great order brought by the Prophets to the people. Their bustling marketplaces are the home of the merchant class known as the Bazaari, whose forked-tongues and shrewd practices bring wealth and prosperity. Their ports, whether on the Azure Sea or Golden Gulf or the great rivers that stretch into the fertile deltas, bring trade and people throughout the seasons. In good times and in bad, the work of the people is prey to scoundrels, pirates and heretics with only the able Pasdari standing in the way of utter chaos upon the streets.

The Sheiks prize peace and order, as is the will of the Holy Divine, and have long put aside the terrible wars that rocked the lands with devastating magic and blood stained battlefields. Yet their rivalry and their constant jostling for power is a fact of life. It is to the subtle Hassari the Shieks and the high-born often turn to advance their position. A silent blade entwined with dark magic often achieves the work of a thousand soldiers. So it is the high-born seek the ultimate prize of rising to be the Caliph of all, a position left vacant since the last of the Prophets passed from the mortal plane to serve the Holy Divine in the Seven Heavens themselves.

Whilst civil war is a distant memory, the Caliphate is far from peaceful especially on its borders. To the north, the great Hamadar Mountains are both a blessing and a curse. As they shield the people from the cold northern wilderness they also harbour the wild, heathen, ancestor worshipping Darvaki who guard their strongholds and rich ore veins jealously. There can be no peace with such barbarians and the struggle across the northern border is both a hazard and an opportunity. The Darvaki whilst lacking any sense of civilized culture are skilled craftsman whose working of iron and steel are unassailable, making them highly valued fereng (slaves).

To the west, beyond the Golden Gulf lies Westermor, a continent of savages and the plane-touched Umbrians with their long necks and pointy ears. These faerie-folk are fearsome sea raiders who enslave good men and women to perform dark, disgusting rituals of depravity and sin before eating their souls. And to the east beyond the Thousand Grains, a vast area of marshland, lies the the mighty alien empire of the T'chin. The greatest adventurers and merchants of the Caliphate are known to trade with these dragonkin.

Wherever your path may take you, O Bold Adventurer, remember the words of the great Prophet Kharish al-Caliph:

O Great Divine Blessed Be Thy Will

Of Sand and Stone None Shall Stand

On the Judgement of Your Eye

O Fool Are Those Who Listen Intent

To the falsehoods and wishes of Djinn

Have mercy on those whose lips

Work the plots of every scheming Shaitun

May death come soon to me and all

If ever your people stray from the path

If one step towards damnation is shortened

A blessing be upon your Holy Name.

Vazier Freydun al-Mosar

Darvish Kupar (City of Pearl)

624 S.C.

Darvish Kapur (City of Pearl)

Darvish Kapur (The City of Pearl)

Map of the Caliphate I

Initial Map of the Caliphate